Role of Leadership in Change Management Role

Role of Leadership in Change Management

Role of Leadership in Delivering Change-2

Other factors necessary in delivering Change-5

Arguments for and Against Change Management-6

Perspective towards Change Applications in an Organization-10

Any Topic on Organizational Development

The paper will tackle any topic from Organizational Development. The topic in this case that I choose to look at is Leadership Development but I will be narrowing it down to look at 'The Role of leadership in Change Management. In this case, the paper will attempt to look at how leadership affects change in an organization. It will also look at whether change is really necessary in an organization and what role the leaders have in effecting the change. What are the implications of change to the organization and the entire structure including the employees? How should it be implemented? What are the challenges? These are some of the questions that will be answered in the process of tackling of the paper.

Thesis Statement

Change is inevitable, not only in organizations but in every sphere of life, and this is the argument that I wish to support. The following are the forces driving change- The changing needs of clients, technology, globalization, political forces. In today's world, business is highly competitive. For an organization to survive it is imperative for an organization to reshape to the needs of a rapidly changing world. Organizations can longer resist change and doing so is taking a blind alley street that will possibly end up no where or that is so dark to see to the needs of its customers, stakeholders and others. Every day, customers are demanding more and excellent services. If you do not supply it, competitors swerve to the delight of providing what you cannot. As a result organizations are quickly reshaping themselves in order to meet the ever changing needs of their customers.

Role of Leadership in Delivering Change

Leaders in an organization are realizing this that not every problem will require money to solve, sometime it is just about moving with the trends. Money is important in any organization but it can fail to buy or even to deliver the best results if used in an erroneous context. As a leader you need to accentuate action to make the changes quickly and smoothly as possible. Resistance to change is futile. However it is not just about adopting change, it is highly on how to go about it, because an organization can be good at adopting change but does not have the necessary skills of doing so and its efforts are futile. The ability to respond to change is a key role in any leadership position, and how well to cope with change and direct the overall transformations is crucial to your organization's success. It is for this reason that excellent leadership is necessary. Change can range from transitioning to new software to a complete reorganization of the company. For an organization to develop, they often must undergo significant change at various points in their development .Why it is very critical for leaders and managers to be successful at organizational change. I will provide supporting evidence to this question:

According to Patrol & Troop, (1972), 'There are no rules for leadership. But there are certain skills that every good leader seems to love.' Given the definition of leadership as the process of social influence in which a person enlists the aid and support of others in order to accomplish a task, one thing for sure is that the person at the point of social influence must always lead the others in proficient ways. This is a responsibility that is placed on a person or persons and which means great responsibility. It is an exciting activity and often pleasurable, but it always means responsibility and doing things right. 'Manager are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right thing.' (Patrol & Troop, 1972)

To understand better the necessity of efficient leadership it is ideal to look at the main changes that an organization goes though. Organization evolves through various cycles just like people must evolve through various life cycles 'Organizations normally go through four main changes thought their growth,' (Klepper 1997). There is the Formative period when the organization is just getting started. In this stage, the organization only has the vision but no prescribed definitions to the organization. A lot of experimentation and innovation is needed here. To overcome obstacles and accomplish breakthroughs, the changes of creativity and discovery are needed.

The next stage involves the organization finding direction and coordination to maintain growth and solidify gains. This stage is the rapid growth period. Change is focused on defining the purpose of the organization and on the mainstream business. This is followed by the mature period where the organization's strong growth curve levels off to the overall place of the economy. Changes are needed to maintain established markets and assuring that gains are achieved. Lastly we have the declining period stage that is quite a rough ride. Changes like downsizing and reorganization are inevitable. To survive, changes include tough objectives and compassionate implementation. The goal is to get out of the old and into something new. Success in this period means that the four periods start al over again.

These stages must be well understood so that the organization can adjust well to the different transformations and needs in every stage. Organizations that fail to recognize this or to effect the needed changes in any of the four growth periods risk failing and death of the organization. It is in this case that we call for good leadership skills and this also determines whether a company will succeed or not. Some companies do it successfully while others do it poorly. Continual improvement is needed in every step of the company's growth. It is never ending quest to do better. And you do better by changing. Standing still allows your competitors to get ahead of you. 'To prevent yourself or the organization from becoming stranded on the mudflats of an obsolete ideology you become a champion of change.' (Patrol & Troop, 1972)

Great leadership skills are crucial in change management. Employees need to place great confidence and trust in leadership so they can accept change and not only that but so that they too can be part of the change. In fact, employees look to leaders to direct the imminent change. Change without leadership can cause confusion and turmoil or even distrust from employees or investors and ultimately the vision of the change will be lost. Poor leadership results in negative responses from employees and instability within the organization. Leaders are responsible for demonstrating the need for change, establishing common goals and appearing as noticeable and convincing leaders during the change process.

For desirable change to be achieved by leaders, the leaders must establish attainable targets; unrealistic targets will get a company no where, it will just result into a waste of time and resources. There is also need for transparent and faultless communication, not only from top to bottom level but also from bottom to top. The organization also requires constructing futuristic plans for generating positive results. The business also need to have a good risk management that should be able to understand and measure the risks and also help the system in the smooth flow of the business for longer period. A good risk management system should be able to understand and measure the risks, and outline new policies that will be executed on the right time to overcome the risks. Besides that, the leader should be in place to set standards. The set standards are practiced in the future for better productivity and quantitative terms. And lastly the leaders should be in a position to adopt quality information and knowledge of the related areas to run business in a better way. The knowledge management might be treated as new concept with knowledge management, the conventional business activities are getting paradigm shift.

Other factors necessary in Delivering Change

However we can not rule outright that the only fundamental aspect for organizational success in carrying change is only in great leadership. Yes, efficient leadership is the major component for facilitating change but there are other factors that come into play. In fact even with all the needed skills, leaders still fail to succeed in implanting change especially if the employees are not change oriented mainly due to their backgrounds. Different people often have very different and strong opinions about change and how it should be conducted. Even the best of managers can fail if there is no will from other areas, especially if it is resisted by the employees and other people of interest to the organization.

Whenever humans are forced to shift to adjust to shifting conditions, pain is ever present. Due to this they are likely to resist change. This is because they do not want to the places and old habits that they are accustomed to. As result, there is need for the employees to be coached properly and made to understand why the change must be imposed, what role they have in this, how they will benefit from the change paradigm. The employees should feel that they are part of carrying out the change and that their values, opinions and feeling are taken into considerations.

Technology is advancing every day and which an integral part of change. However this can also be the cause of the organization fail to achieve change. Some changes in an organization will be ineffective if the organization does not have the necessary technology to drive the change. Organizations that are still trapped in the old modern ways of doing things are indeed in great danger of finding themselves being taken by technology which in itself is a necessity to rive for change. But the less, all the other factors are dependent on the leader skills that are practiced.

There are various problems that are likely to arise if a company does not adopt change. On the other hand, there are also problems that arise due to the adoption of change. The topic on organizational change and development has become widespread in communications about business, organizations, leadership and management due to its important. This is attributed to the importance of the subject to the organizations. I will discuss the problems that arises as when an organizations decides to adopt changes and also those that also arises when a company does not.

Arguments for and Against Change Management

As a matter of fact leaders and managers continually make efforts to accomplish successful and significant change- it is innate in their jobs. Some are good at their efforts while others continually fail and find themselves failing. Do not do change for the sake of change. Do change to enhance organizational performance. Organizational change is undertaken to improve the performance of the organization or part of the organizational, for instance, a process or team. Successful organizational change can be quite difficult to accomplish. It is like trying to change a person's habits. There are many approaches to guiding change-some planned, structured, an explicit, while others are more organic, unfolding, and implicit. Some approaches work from the future to the present, for example involving visioning and their action planning about how to achieve that vision. Other approaches work from the present to the future, for example, identifying current priorities. (issues and/or goals) and then action planning about to address those priorities e.g. The action research approach.

'It is not the strongest of the species that survive or the most intelligent, but the ones who are most adaptive to change.' (Darwin,1995) Every day the world is rapidly changing and it is easily becoming hard too predict, with a hundred opportunities and pitfalls passing every moment. This is including a lot of the thousands of techniques and methods that claim to help business improve productivity, quality and customer satisfaction. This rapid change is leaving organizations with no idea of what will happen the next minute. Change management helps create successful adaptation in a win-win situation for both parties and is certainly the evolutionary wave of the future.

In response to this confusion many do nothing, or are over take by the seemingly high changes expected of them. Others are often afraid of making the wrong choices and thus choose not to do anything than make a mistake, but others choose to pursue the change despite the confusion reigning. Changing nothing will produce nothing. So, even if a company will not catch up with the change, total lack of it is hazardous. Without the qualitative organization-wide changes (re-engineering) is necessary to sustain a permanent effort.

The world has become a globalised market something that has increased the markets and the opportunities for more growth and revenue. To fit into this module, an organizational has to move with the rest by adopting change as the rest of the world also encompasses it. Actually increasingly diverse markets have a wide variety of needs and expectations that must be understood if they are to become strong customers and collaborators. The ability to manage change, while continuing to meet the needs of stakeholders, is a very important skill required by today's leaders and managers.

In business today there is a shift in value systems and which explains why more than any other factor, change management is not simply an important competency or task for major change projects. Change is not only for large and the well established companies but even small companies need to adopt change management. It is obvious that change for large projects is the salient thing and frequently cited success factor overall even above and beyond the actual business solution. Business leaders must reflect on the effect of this shift in values for them to mange change. If your company has embraced these new values, then change management is not option for successful change, it is a requirement. Change is not only for the company systems but also applies to individuals.

If a company is predestined to achieve growth, change must occur for in order for there to be growth, and for things to expand. Things must be done in a different and the acceptable way for that particular period. In fact, change allows companies to grow, for instance through adopting the new technology which enhances production. If a company declines to change and adopt the new technology, the resultants factor is to remain in its traditional state which does not necessitate growth.

Change occurs in order to meet the ever changing of our environment and the people living it must adapt with our ever changing environment in order to meet the needs of the people we serve. Organizations are influenced by the people, culture, and time, which they are developing under. People needs are ever changing which means that organizations have to embrace change too, cultures are changing, which also affects organizations ways of doing things, times are also changing and the organizations must also do the same- move with time. If the recent times, are calling for change then why should an organization follow suit?

The organizations which adopt change quickly will be able to cope with the new developments. In change management the business becomes sensitive to change. The business might be able to achieve the good results on the basis of how sensitive they were adapting to change.

However adopting change is not as easy as it looks and one thing to note is that there are many factors that come into play. There has been a lot of hassle of every one worrying about change, is this necessary? Change is necessary but as much as this is so, how easy is it and what happens if we do not embrace it? What happen to the old days in business when you did what you had to do to survive? The business did not worry about what others were doing but concentrating on its own way of survival?

We seem to be spending more time worrying about the ever evolving change, yet we are the same people who determine what change will take place next. Instead of worrying and try as hard as possible to catch up with change, why don't we concentrate on letting things be-not worrying about making changes especially unnecessary ones?

This discussion is supported by the evolution theory. Some things like plants and animals have survived countless changes in the earth's environment. And have adapted to their environment not necessitating change. For examples animals like cockroaches and sharks that have been around for million of years. Why? It is because they have learnt to adapt to their environment. They have learnt to survive. Then why shouldn't organizations do the same, concentrate on doing things the traditional way and stop worrying about change?

'The strong survive and the weak don't- it is the survival of the fittest.' (Darwin, (1995) Maybe we should get back to the science of management. If it is too hot in your spot, then move to another environment. We should adopt a soft spot to change. Can we just stop spending time worrying about the issue of change and let things take their own course.

Change should not control the basis of a company but the company should be in control of it. When we allow change to take the basis of the company, then we will become slaves to change and we can never be settled but ever day we will be require to change strategies and structures in our companies which sometime should not be the case. Does a company have to install its offices with the ever changing and more advanced computers every year? No, this is unnecessary and it is only likely to consume more resources of the organizations affecting returns. As much as change is necessary in the faucets of our organizations, it does not mean organizations moving at the speed of lighting.

In any case not every change should be adopted especially if it irrelevant to the organizations or if it likely to generate not much returns to the company. In fact it is ideal for companies, to gauge what the needs of customers and those parties that are of interest to the company. This change should also be accepted by the employees and other workers. In fact we should examine and re-examine the effects change is causing to the organization and its entire structure. Should people who don't support or resist change be fired by managers? Do we have to take the 'hard approach to change? What sort of message will an organization be sending if an employee was moved somewhere else? (Maybe fired or demoted all in the name of change) and this is without coaching on what it is expected and why and how to support the change? Do workers have to be sidelined in the name of change because they no longer fit into a company due change taking place? This should not be the case and that is why change should be gradual and well orchestrated, for instance, workers should receive coaching so that they can adopt to the changes, and not being fired or demoted.

Change has been known to implement fear unto people. Yet company's greatest assets are the people. 'The companies that have led in the evolutionary theory are the ones that have figured out their greatest assets are their people, and the old theory of dealing with change. Implementing fear philosophy is not in the company's best interest.' (Jossey, B. 2001) The companies that operate in the good old days are stuck in the old dark ages.

Change should come naturally and eventually gradually. We do not have to sit waiting in anxiety for the next thing that need change adoption. Managers should settle calmly and adopt things as they come, instead of creating anxiety at things that are yet to come. Why do the managers have to be very careful these days? Of course, there are certain expectations of any job. If most jobs require change, why then should businesses be going out of their way, spending valuable time and resources in managing change. Change is part of our every day life, experienced in our jobs, families, relationship and sometime we do not even realize that we have adopted it. For managers change is part of their job which they are paid to do.

How high should we jump? How far should we go as seek to implement change? What are willing to sacrifice to implement change? Today's workforces are more educated and more knowledgeable about business in general and their role in the company than years before. It is required of the employees to be more accountable for their work performance. They have to take ownership of their work and every day they have to find ways to improve work performance.

Perspective towards Change Application in an Organization

Having presented both sides of change management (Why it is necessary and why it should not be such a big fuss) the discussion that needs to be carried from here is the different perspectives towards change in an organization and the leadership strategies for dealing with change. It's important to understand that people tend to go through changes in their attempt to cope with change. Understanding that they are normal progressions helps change leaders avoid under-managing change or over-reacting to resistance.

If leaders are to succeed in change management, they will need to concentrate on having their people go from change avoidance to change acceptance. It is natural for people to fear or to be nervous whenever they are uprooted to their normal way of doing things. Change should be constructive and not destructive especially to the employees who are the greatest asset of the company.

Conner, (1993) points out that there are five steps accompanying change. The first one is denial where one is unwillingly to accept things as they are but chooses to differ. Then there is anger mainly directed at other people because of what they are putting you through. Depression, sets in with the person feeling unworthy, needy, doubtful and hopelessness. If these unfavorable stages are handled well, the person is willing to move to the next stage of acceptance of the reality. It is good to offer a bargaining ground so as to work out solutions and keep every one happy.

It is normal that a worker's first reaction to change is to resist it. 'People get comfortable performing tasks and processes in a particular manner over time. This comfort provides people with the security that they are the master of their environment. Some of the things that cause them to fear include a dislike or a disruption in their lives, or not being able to adapt and learn; their jobs may become harder and lose a control.' (Kotter, 1996)

Leaders are never the less expected to help the change process by altering these forms of attitude in their employees' attitude. 'The employees should be able to be transformed from avoiding the change into accepting it.' ( Roethlisberger & Dickson 1939) To accomplish these leaders should revert the employee's questions and change their statements and opinions. It is ideal that they are provided with answers as to what new opportunities will arise as a result of the changes.

It is superlative to focus on the benefit that the change will provide them and the organization. By spelling out the benefits, you will not only be offering them comfort but help to convince themselves otherwise. They will be able to see things in a different angle than what they had perceived. 'Change is almost impossible if the employees have not reached this point of seeing the benefits that accrue from the changes.' (Donphy C. 2006). Employees need motivation and change can help boost this morale or exterminate it. It is also of the essence that the organization is in good standing with other changes that have been made earlier. If the organization is always failing in managing change, the employees will not see the need of more change.

Change management should aim at making things better in an organization. Anything that prevents something from becoming better is a problem. Inform the employees of the problem at stake and how it is standing in the way for better things, and how they are to contribute to the solution. Get them involved in implementing the change so that they are part of it. Focus on the challenges that must be overcome. Enlist the help from other colleagues and departments.

Change is further complicated because it does not always produce a direct adjustment. It may a while before any benefits are realized and the employees should understand this very well. Each employee's attitude produces a different response that is conditioned by feelings towards the change. Every employee's personal history and social situation at work will produce a different attitude towards that change. 'Leaders should build the change so that others want to be part of it. Share the power so that they do not feel powerless. You want them to feel useful and enthusiastic. Make them feel needed, that the change could not happen without them.' (Annabel. 2009)

Kurt Lewin (1951) theorized that there are three stages to change: It is important to understand these changes for greater success. The first theory is unfreezing. It is true that old habits are hard to die but for it imperative that old ideals and processes are tossed aside and new ones learnt and adopted. Evidently getting rid of the old practices is as difficult as learning and adopting new ones due to the power of habits. At this part, it is almost impossible to succeed but it is possible especially by providing a little bit of coaching to break the old habits.

The second stage is changing, and now that the old habits have been disregarded, this step offers a chance for the new ideals are learnt to be practiced. In this stage there are still some elements of confusion, overload and despair, but there are also some elements of hope, discovery, and excitement. This period requires a lot of coaching. The last stage is the refreezing in which the new processes are now intellectually and emotionally accepted. What has been learnt in the other stages is finally taking shape and thus being practiced on the job. This stage only calls for a little of cheerleading to set stage for more motivation.

For change to take shape; communication should form the hallmark of successful leaderships. Maxwell (1998) agrees that communication helps to create trust and openness, not forgetting it helps to create bonds and promote team work. Communication builds relationship with stakeholders such as customers, peers and the community. Leaders are called to listen to concerns and take accountability for the change that will occur. When solid relationships are established, the change process is met with less resistance.

It is worthy while to remember that change is inevitable but employee's output towards it cannot be underestimated. It is for this reason that all fear among employees should be eradicated. Therefore it is good for competent leaders understand their peers' emotions by communicating about possible fears or anxieties regarding the change. Remember that this transition period is confusing for many and is often accompanied by fear. Any laudable leader should be accessible to his employees so they can approach him on anything even if to discuss any reservations, ideas and thoughts about the impending change. 'Leaders should be role models for learning' (Dexter, 2006) especially if employees are nervous about new technology or changing expectations and roles in the work place.

Not only is that, but a lot of collaboration considerably necessary. 'Effective leadership will oversee collaboration between departments, ensuring that processes, proper training and preparations are aligned with the overall goal and mission of the change.' (Hultman, 2006)

Leaders should work to reduce conflicts between departments and other employees that results from uncertainty about the change. It is needed for them to outwardly support the change by becoming passionate about the process, the change itself, and the positive outcomes. If the leaders themselves do not believe on the change, they will likely fail also to lead the employees to what is expected.

Employees will automatically have varied responses depending on ones opinions and perspectives, but what is your own perspective? While it is important to understand your employees' response to change, your own response to change cannot be under looked, it determines how much you are willing to go and do to reach the milestone. 'When you are open to learning, you will build better relationships among your employees which will enable you to respond to challenges along the way.' (Sarah & Steve 2006)

The change has to start with you before it spreads to other spheres or people. Your attitude is highly recommended to be positive. 'Unplanned situations, unexpected responses and dealing with ambiguity are part of the leadership role while managing change. Your positive response to change will serve as guidelines to others to imitate. Leading is about setting direction and ensuring that that direction is followed. The nature of how leading is done depends on the context of the situation, one's perspective and the nature and the needs of those involved.' (Smith & Mourier, 2008)